[Sca-cooks] What the Tourist Cannot Know

[tudorpot at gmail.com]

In my travels pre-internet I have found books such as Lonely Planet  
very helpful for finding interesting and off the beaten track  
restaurants and sights. I  still use these sort of guides when I'm  
traveling with the internet as a back up. One tip that I read prior  
to a trip to Venice was that in the railway station there would be  
people 'shilling' for local hotels/pensions, the man who helped me  
find a great place for little money had a small photo album and a  
map- he arranged the reservation with his cell phone and gave me  
directions. Sometimes you need to be open to different ways and trust  
strangers.
The guide books also helped me to find monasteries and convents that  
rented rooms to travelers.

Chowhound is a great site for finding restaurants. In small towns the  
sign of a good place is a full parking lot.


Freda